Broadcom and NDS work Together on STB Tech

Broadcom let us know that it will incorporate NDS's ICAM (Integrated Conditional Access Module) technology into its cable and satellite set-top box chips. Broadcom's set-top box chip family will also support NDS' XTV software for cable and satellite TV system control, including Random Access Scrambled-stream Protocol (RASP) technology. RASP enables personal video recording (PVR) to handle tasks such as fast-forward, pause and rewind on encrypted content. XTV offers greater control over TV viewing by letting users pause a live TV program, replay a program being watched, or skip ahead in a recorded program. NDS's Videoguard lets pay-TV operators offer subscribers functions like password protection, spending limits, and parental rating controls. Videoguard can also target programming, advertising and promotions to subscribers by geographic area, market segment, business or personal interests. The major chips in Broadcom's reference design are the BCM3250 set-top box single-chip front end (dual QAM demodulators, DOCSIS 1.1 capable MAC, DAVIC 1.2/1.5 MAC) and the BCM7030 video decoder chip (dual SD or HDTV, transport, MPEG2 decoder, and 2D/3D graphics).